Instant Skills

I saw Mike in the crowd of people looking at children standing in a queue to get the crystal ball which measured aptitude. I decided to turn on elemental sight.

I focused on the child who was about to get on the platform and I could see an HP bar in red and Mana bar in blue.

The child looked about 10 years which was 6 years younger than me. The child had 500 HP and 1000 mana.

I could see something more with my elemental sight.

He was taking in light and greyish elements inside him. Then, the child pressed his hand on the crystal ball and it emitted a different colour from the particles he was taking in.

My guess was that the child would a dual attribute prodigy with both light and that grey element but the light seemed to a mixture of two colours.

But, the priest showed a happy smile and exclaimed, "the child has been blessed with the holy element affinity. The church would like to take in the child and train him into a great priest."

The crowd could not believe that the child from slums could have the holy element. indeed the world was not unfair. A child from slums would soon turn into a status where even the king would have to give respect just because of the element.

As, I was looking at the awakening, I saw different common attributes like fire,water. What surprised me was that the plant/wood attribute turned out to be a combination of light,water and wind particles.

Why does it look like plant magic is nothing but photosynthesis with light, CO2 from wind and water. I decided to look into it later.

Soon, the ceremony was over. Before leaving, the priest announced "Any of the followers need blessings can come forward."

Then, a middle-aged man brought forward a small child. The child was not conscious from what I could see. I concentrated on the child and could see that the HP bar was not full and was ticking down.

Man kept the child on the bed and joined his hands " Father, help my child father, I don't know what happened to him. He seems to be dying"

Then priest went forward with a frown on his face and touched the child at his chest.

I could clearly see the priest mumbling and passing the holy element into the magic heart of the boy.

Soon, the child's pale face regained Color and Priest's mana bar went down.

The priest had 1000 HP and 2000 mana. He lost about 500 mana to heal the child.

It was at this point, I head a ding in my mind.

"Light magic detected- want to activate - not enough wealth - 10 wealth required"

"Holy magic detected - want to activate - not enough wealth - 20 w required"

"Soul/psychic magic detected - want to activate - not enough wealth - 10 w required"

"Purify spell of holy magic detected - unable to activate - needs 1w to activate"

I guessed that the grey element must have the Soul/psychic element then since I got all 3 notifications when the priest used holy magic.

I was thinking about the notification when I heard the priest say "The child had traces of poison element in this body. I have removed the poison but he will be weak for some time."

I looked around to check the levels of general population. It was then I saw that most people had around had around 300 HP and 300 mana. This meant that I was weaker than most people who had gathered here.

I found Mike standing in the crowd and went towards him.

He saw him and commentated, " That kid is so lucky, do you know what holy element means for his family. Even if he doesn't join the church, all the local forces will woo their family. I can bet that they would move from the slums to the inner city tomorrow. Some people have already gone to inform the Baron Kenneth already about today's awakening. Even the wood mage will have a life of riches since the kingdom hires wood mages regularly for better harvest of crops."

When I heard what Mike had said, I couldn't help but thank my luck that this guy talks so much. He gave me so much info without even asking about it.

" Yeah, who would not want to be a person with rare elements. " I replied with a tone of envy in my voice since he knew about my mana low affinity.

" Don't give up, just keep meditating, even if we can not afford the meditation chamber, well focussed meditation can improve mana pool. I had asked a senior adventurer about your condition." said Mike with empathy in his voice.

"I don't know when it will increase. By the way, I wanted to ask you about magic level. How can you shoot fireball without any source of fire. I have tried forming earth blocks but couldn't. " I asked.

"You are just an magic rookie, its based on mana purity and control from what I know. After one point, you can see the element more clearly and feel it better inside your body. that's when if you release it you can form the element outside without a source. Just keep practicing, If you break through to a magician, you can easily join a construction group and earn more income than cleaning stables. It takes years to be a magician, so don't worry about it." Mike replied.

" Yeah, but I want to look for a new job, I am thinking about making artificial mana stones but I don't have a mana bottle." I asked with hesitation.

Mike frowned," You are just 16. Why are you giving up. Constant mana deprivation has bad effect on Vitality, you may end up being losing all Vitality before becoming a mage."

I didn't know that constant mana deprivation could lead to permanent HP loss but since I had the reload skill, this was not valid on me but I could not tell Mike about it.

I just sighed and left walked towards home.

Then I heard Mike call me, " Actually I know a place where you can get it but it is dangerous and if you don't provide the filled Bottle on time, they do end up taking it back."

"Is it safe?" I asked with a little bit of fear in my voice.

" As safe as any illegal operation can be in brown town. You know the baron does not care as long it doesn't threaten his position." He replied.

I was considering it, then I decided to test the waters, I just could not go on cleaning stables, I needed an entry point into the magic world, maybe this could be it.

"I am in. Introduce me." I said with a calm tone.